The packaging manufacturing giant gained market share and benefited from the acquisition of Swedish packaging business SCA last year.
Pretax profit rose to £85m, up from £55.8m in 2012, while revenue increased from £1.6bn to £2.08bn.
Adjusted operating profit reached £160.2m, up from £122.3m in 2012.
In the UK however, sales fell 1.9% to £480.8m (from £490.3m) whilst operating profit improved 9.5% to £27.7m.
DS Smith said the fall in revenues reflects the disposal of two sites required as part of the SCA Packaging acquisition as well as the tough economic and trading environment, while a 60 basis point improvement in margin and increased operating profit reflects the impact of improved paper pricing in the period and the benefit of an efficiency programme at its Kemsley mill in Kent.
The firm said it had delivered a further €20m (£16.6m) of cost synergies from the SCA Packaging acquisition versus the prior comparative period as planned, and was on track to deliver the remaining €60m (£49.8m) of the €120m (£99.7m) over the coming 18 months.
Other highlights from the results include:
Return on sales progression of 40bps to 7.7%
Synergy benefits from SCA Packaging acquisition on track
Results were in line with medium-term targets
DS Smith said it was pleased with volume growth in corrugated packaging, particularly in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe.
Miles Roberts, group chief executive, said the good volume growth reflects market share gains from a strengthened customer proposition, driven by innovation and removing complexity and cost from customers supply chain.
"At the same time as gaining share and growing volumes, we have also improved our EBITA margin, despite the headwind due to recent input cost increases which we are recovering as expected, with the usual lag.
"We are, therefore, pleased with Group trading in the year to date. We continue to expect further good progress over the remainder of the year, despite ongoing challenging market conditions, and the Board views the future with confidence," he said.
